May 04, 2012

The Old and the Dutiful

Well, Steffy has finally signed the annulment papers. Hallelujah, this storyline is finally over!

Just kidding. We should be so lucky.

Considering this...

...was Liam's response to the news, I imagine this is far from over. Years from over, as if we've all committed some terrible, terrible crime against humanity and this is our punishment.

I'm going to have quite the headache if Liam fights Steffy on this. He's constantly impressed by her big turned-into-a-magnanimous-low-maintenance-saint-overnight turnaround lately, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he just loves having both of these women on the hook. (Not that I don't welcome this change in Steffy. While I don't think Jacqueline MacInnes Wood is exactly the next Meryl Streep by any means, she's got presence and charisma and is a hell of a sport with some of the embarrassing material they give her ["Cha cha cha!"], so seeing Steffy evolve into a spitfire with ethics who doesn't get all scheme-y and pathetic over a loser like Liam would be a welcome change. I am not, however, holding my breath.)

In the meantime, we did actually get a good scene with some good dialogue (in this storyline?? I know, right?) in which Liam explained to Hope what his fears are regarding (a) her reaction to this whole business with the public scrutiny and (b) her prescription pill dependency. It had been irking me because anybody who pays attention to anything knows that addiction (albeit in this case a ridiculous lickety-split insta-addiction) is a disease that takes control of you and it takes a hell of a lot more than just one promise, saying, "I'll never do it again!" to get past it. Not magically de-addicting yourself on the very first try doesn't mean you're weak. (In today's "Duh!" news, if it were easy to quit, no one would have an addiction problem. Der.) And having your boyfriend totally jump ship and offer no support when you're only a few weeks in isn't exactly encouraging.

But they gave us a little more of a chance to hear Liam's point of view yesterday.

Liam: I love you. Of course I forgive you. But that's not really the point, is it? You know, it's trust. I mean, the...the way you've been acting lately, you've been acting like this -- this --this fragile, insecure, unstable little girl that my dad keeps calling you. And don't make him right. Don't make me wrong about you. And yeah, our lives have been stressful lately. But if you can't handle a bit of--of annoyance by the press, then what's it gonna be like when you're Mrs. William Spencer, III? Am I gonna be coming home to find you self-medicated? I mean, is that the married life that we have to look forward to? And what about when you're a mom and the stress that comes with that? How you gonna handle that? I mean, death, illness, tragedy happen, Hope. And if you can't cope with them, how am I supposed to marry you?

Fair enough. He's afraid for his future, afraid that it'll always be like this. And yes, she's seriously overreacted to the press asking her questions and calling her names, so I'll give him credit if his issue is the problem that led to the pills (rather than condemning her for life for a three-week pill dependency).

But then it all fell apart a bit. She swore she'd never take another pill and then...

Liam: That's good. What about confidence, huh? What about -- what about poise?

Poise? Seriously? I'm going to have to assume that Liam is just worried Hope might have a bladder control problem, because otherwise, really? He's admonishing her for not being poised enough? Is he a 1950's politician? I mean I can't exactly be shocked about his antiquated ideas about gender roles considering whose loins he sprung from. But good grief. DUMBEST LIVING HUMAN. And hint to Liam: if you want your girlfriend to feel confident about your relationship, stop flirting and making out with other women. Douchenozzle.

Y'all, I was in the shower this morning and had some insipid song in my head and couldn't figure out what it was. After a while, I realized (to my horror) that it was either the song they use for Hope/Liam montages or the song they use for Steffy/Liam montages. I have no idea which and I don't want to know (what difference does it make?), and I very much resent B&B for implanting it into my consciousness like that.

Although Steffy and Liam are still there, the Aspen story does seem to be winding down a bit and I'm deeply disappointed in the complete and utter lack of gondola. NOT COOL, SHOW.

So I know this show is hugely popular internationally (I have to assume mostly because it makes people feel good to watch Americans being really, really dumb?) and I was asking some of my overseas buddies if it plays in their countries because I was curious if any other English-language countries were into it (partly just human curiosity, and partly wondering if there might even be another country in which to promote our li'l blog here!). A South African friend told me it's huge there and it comes on at 6pm daily (doesn't that just seem like a wild paradigm, a soap coming on in the early evening?), but my favorite part was that apparently they don't shorthand it as B&B, but as "The Bold." And it's a big deal. The Bold! I love it. I'm calling it that from now on.

Ya know Louise, I enjoyed Liam's speech too up until the "confidence and poise" line. Why does this show dumb-down everything? I may be in the minority but I kinda like Hope/Liam as a couple and Steffy acting more mature. Unfortunately, my current "like" and Steffy's current behavior won't last past two episodes!

This triangle should not be the focus of the show for nearly two years! Come on! Brooke, Ridge, Taylor, Katie and Bill are viable characters. The young woman who plays Dayzee is clearly a strong actress and the young man who plays Thomas is very attractive. Jacob Young and Adrienne Frantz are popular daytime actors. Lesli Kay is locked away somewhere in a closet but still on a recurring contract. This show has a roster of multiple-Emmy winners (Susan Flannery, Lesli Kay, Heather Tom, Jacob Young.) I will never understand why the show wastes itself on one story at a time.

Somewhat related...I liked the flirtation between Steffy and Bill and miss it. There was chemistry there. Cha cha cha.

Lovin the Bold here in Australia! Well, loving it in the way you guys do - adore your posts Louise. Very comforting to watch a show where I have seen the flashbacks the first time around :). We are a few weeks behind, so I love gettin he jump on the storyline. Mind you - amazing how S L O W that storyline goes!!

Keep up the great work - I laugh out loud at you guys and it's nice to know there are some normal Americans over there!! :)

Nadine, that's awesome! That's great to know we've got an international reader or two out there who actually watch the show (you know, unlike my UK friends who I blackmail into reading my blog despite the fact that they don't get American soaps).

But wow -- that must be torture to be three weeks behind and come here and learn that three weeks from now it's the SAME EXACT THING OVER AND OVER. I admire your tenacity!

South Africa's top "soapies" revolve around the insane schemes of those with money and power. Stephanie Forrester is a tamer cousin of characters like Cherel and Barker on Isidingo, who, while running media empires, are also more than happy to do anything and everything to keep control, even if it causes their children to commit suicide. A typical scheme for Barker involves making a business rival think he beat a prostitute to death, and blackmailing said rival into giving up everything. Barker is also more than happy to murder business rivals. A typical scheme for Cherel is marrying and killing a rich man, then bedding and/or killing his sons to get them out of the way.

Generations has Kenneth Mashaba, another power mad type, and a series of women who are more extreme versions of Brooke, like Dineo, who married Kenneth for money, sort of fell in love with him, but still had an affair with his son, went back to Kenneth, was spied on and emotionally abused by him to the point where she had him shot by a bodyguard. When he didn't die as planned, she whispered "forget what happened" in his ear each night, and when this wasn't working, she framed his brother (whom she would later have an affair with), finally resolving the matter by finding a money-hungry relative of a recently killed thug and paying said relative to claim that the thug had shot Kenneth.

B&B is dull compared to this insanity but is the closest American soap. It's got fashion, glamour, and melodramatic situations which it takes seriously. There is no endless WE ARE A SOAP, HA HA HA HA winking.

The biggest failing with B&B now is the lack of characters who are brassy and spirited, like the Spectras. Amber is too compromised to fill that role, although she comes closest.

B&B is written like a 15 minute show, not a 30 minute show. The best 30 minute soaps knew how to write two plots per episode most of the time.

With that said, I am enjoying the show more than I have at any time since the mid-90's. There is a dearth of patronizing and offensive "social issue" stories, Taylor and Ridge are not on my screen very often, Hope is sympathetic yet flawed and is by default their best younger heroine since the early days of Jennifer Finnigan's Bridget, and the show has given Steffy some depth and perspective instead of just having her smirk out lines about the "Logan women."

Liam is kind of a jerk, and seems to be shaping up to be more and more of a jerk, but there's something about him which I still find likeable, somehow. I never liked Ridge.

The main reason I cared about Brooke/Ridge/Taylor was Brooke. At the time, I was a big fan of Brooke's. I always wanted her to find a better man than Ridge, but was so annoyed by self-righteous Taylor that I didn't want her to lose him. Finally it just became so absurd and repetitive that I stopped caring, but I will probably always have a soft spot for Brooke (especially since the show seems to pretend that she has spent her entire adult life taking on all the men of Los Angeles).

I don't care as much about Steffi/Liam/Hope, but I sort of find something to like about each of them. In that way, the triangle has worked for me, along with the much stronger scenes of Hope/Amber, and some of the stuff with Hope and Dr. Nora.

I just wish Bill would get the hell off my screen. He makes my skin crawl.

During that awful "Thanks for the Memories" sequence, did anyone else think of McMurphy and Dr. Richard on China Beach? I miss them.

After months of waiting, I FINALLY have a episode to look forward to. Cut to Brooke and Dope dancing around the office with pure glee that Steffy "finally " signed those damn papers to utter dispair and hand wringing that Liam tore them up! Bwahaha! I cannot wait .... and I haven't thought that in months.

The thing about B&B is that it has glitz, glamour, fashion etc. that is so far removed from life which I think is part of its appeal. The whole melodrama of it all which basically just involves pretty people going at it over a girl/guy. And it does own the fact that its all about the camp factor.

I'm from the Caribbean btw and it's been airing here forever. I guess it's also by habit people watch, especially since it airs at 6:30 pm just before the news. At some point everyone I know has watched it lol. Also, we haven't had a local soap here in so long and people do enjoy watching bacchanal.

I personally gave up on it years ago after I got exhausted watching the Ridge/Brooke/Taylor merry-go-round on their millionth rotation.

@ Carl. A China Beach reference! OMG, you made my day. I know exactly the scene you're talking about on China Beach; I believe it was a Xmas episode. I haven't watched the scene on B&B yet but I take it from your comments it doesn't exactly inspire the same reaction :) China Beach was always so good at pairing songs with scenes (unfortunately I think this is still the reason it isn't on DVD. Copyright infringement.) Anyway, I could go on and on about my favorite China Beach scenes but this post is already so OT I'll quit while I'm ahead. Thanks for the Memories.

It wasn't too bad, just absurd (hey, we both LOVE Bob Hope, because he's so popular with the kids these days) and a little forced.

I just love that China Beach scene, and it made sense, as Bob Hope was such a major part of the USO for many decades. Sometimes I wanted McMurphy to go far, far away, but I loved scenes like that. Robert Picardo and Dana Delaney were my OTP on that show.